神学问答34：工作之约，恩典之约和救赎之约有何不同？

What is the difference between the Covenant of Works, the Covenant of Grace, and the Covenant of Redemption?诚之获授权翻译。原文载于：http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/qna/worksgraceredmpt.html

圣约神学看到三个基本的、全面的圣约，是从远古到永恒未来之救赎历史的架构。这些圣约，虽然各自不同，却是紧密相连的。这三个圣约中，最基本的是神学家所谓的“救赎之约”（Covenant of Redemption）。这是指三一真神在远古的时候，彼此所作的约定：圣父设计救赎，圣子答应承担救赎，而圣灵答应要把施行救赎的结果。在这个首先的神的圣约中，所有基督会救赎的人，所有要赐给祂作为祂受苦的奖赏的人，都是在世界被创造以前圣父所拣选的人。Covenant Theology sees three basic, comprehensive covenants which structure all of redemptive history from eternity past to eternity future. All of these covenants, though each one is distinct, are very closely interconnected. The most fundamental of these three covenants is what theologians call the “Covenant of Redemption”. This refers to the inter-trinitarian pact made in eternity past, in which the Father designed, the Son agreed to undertake, and the Spirit agreed to apply the results of redemption. In this first divine covenant, every person whom Christ would redeem, and whom he would be given as the reward for his sufferings, was chosen by the Father before the worlds were ever created.

『工作之约』（Covenant of Works）与『救赎之约』是相关的，因为它为圣子所承担要完成的工作设好了舞台，并且为祂在履行『救赎』——祂与父神所约定要赐给祂的子民的——时所要成就的事定好了条件。在这个圣约中，圣父为人——按照祂的形象所造的，被造界的高峰——制定了一些规条（stipulations），并且应许要把永生——神的同在最大的祝福——作为人成功地完成这些条件的结果。如果基督要完成救赎之约对祂的要求，那么，祂就必须作为盟约的头，或祂所约定要拯救的子民的代表。The Covenant of Works is related to the Covenant of Redemption in that it sets the stage for the work that the Son undertook to accomplish, and gives the terms of what he would have to do in the pursuance of the redemption that he had covenanted with the Father to provide for his people. In this covenant, the Father lays certain stipulations upon man, his climactic creature formed in his image, with the promise of eternal life in his most blessed presence as the outcome of successfully fulfilling his terms. If Christ would accomplish what the Covenant of Redemption requires of him, then, he must fulfill the terms of the Covenant of Works perfectly; he must do so as a man; and he must do so as the federal head or representative of the people he had covenanted to save.

最后，恩典之约与工作之约的关系非常紧密，基本上是因为它是工作之约的再版（republication），也应许与神同在的永生，条件是完美地成就神的命令。不过，它有一个附加的但书：因为亚当，人类的第一个盟约的头，未能遵行圣约的条件，神白白应许要差派一个新的盟约的头，基督，完成亚当未能完成的，并赢得圣约——亚当所破坏的——的奖赏。当然，背约必然会带来惩罚，基督也必须满足亚当为自己和他的后裔所带来的咒诅。在恩典之约中，神单方面地应许祂永恒、令人喜悦的同在这个奖赏，并以祂自己为代价，起誓必定要成就此约。这可以在下面几件事上看出来：亚当犯罪后，祂提供并神宰杀了这个动物，以遮盖亚当的羞耻；挪亚洪水之后，祂所收回并射向自己的弓；以及祂在亚伯拉罕面前被切成两半的动物中间走过，等等。而最终，当基督为我们承担圣约的咒诅——是我们在亚当里配受的，也得到了成全；这是祂作为我们新的盟约的头，靠着祂完美顺服的一生，为我们所赢来的，所有圣约的祝福。圣经中提到的所有的历史中的圣约，都是恩典之约有机相连的表达或安排（administrations）。Finally, the Covenant of Grace, is closely related to the Covenant of Works, in that, it is basically a republication of that Covenant, and promises the same end of eternal life in God's presence, on the condition of the perfect fulfillment of God's commands. However, it has an added proviso: because Adam, the first federal head of the human race, failed to keep the terms of the covenant, God freely promised to send a new federal head, the Christ, to do what Adam had failed to do, and to win the rewards of the covenant that Adam had broken. Of course, as this broken Covenant already demanded punishment, the Christ was also required to satisfy the curse that Adam had called down upon himself and his descendants. In the Covenant of Grace, God unilaterally promises the reward of his eternal, favorable presence, and he pledges by his own person and at his own expense to do so. This may be seen in the animal he provided and killed to clothe Adam's shame, in the bow drawn back against himself after Noah's flood, in his walking alone through the severed animal halves before Abraham, etc. And ultimately, it was fulfilled when Christ underwent the covenant curses for us who had merited them in Adam; and won for us as our new federal head, by a life of perfect obedience, all the covenant blessings. All of the historical covenants mentioned in the scriptures are organically-connected expressions or administrations of the Covenant of Grace.